Greetings From Amsterdam

Think of this as a postcard from the Lowlands. We just arrived but so far it's been eventful.

In brief:

• Anyone who can sleep in steerage class on a plane is either lying or freakish. Oy. Almost makes me wish I'd spent 4K on business class.
• Mind you, we were from door to door in 10 hours - which is entirely amazing if you think about it.
• Also, can anyone tell me how they manage to deboard a 350-person flight in less time than it takes to do an American Airlines commuter plane?
  
• Jet lag is really something. I'm eating my way through it.
• Y'all know how I don't care about bread? Well, the bread here is like nothing you've ever tasted. OMG - so perfect. And the butter is cultured. Scott says, just like me:-)
  
• So many people told me the food here is mediocre. I haven't tasted anything yet that hasn't been delicious, in a full-fat, voluptuous way. Mind you, I'm going to great restaurants that cost a fortune. What can you do?
  
• It's freakin' November here. People are wearing coats. I had to buy a jacket (stupidly) cuz I somehow couldn't accept that it would be 13 degrees and overcast. It's seriously cold.
  
• The Amsterdamers remind me strangely of Torontonians. In fact, it's bizarre. When I arrived at the airport, it seemed I was back in Canada. In a very appealing way.
• The fashion: Utterly chic. Totally down-tempo. These peeps are dressing for the weather which, sadly, is a bitch. But a moody, impressionist bitch.
  

Will continue to communicate but I don't know if I' going to be able to get photos from the camera to the computer. I'm using an in-room Mac and everything is weird. I'm hopeful though, when jet lag abates, I'll have the wherewithal to figure it out - here's hoping I brought the right cables.

Kisses, K

New Fave Drink

My husband thinks I'm high on drugs but I quite like Almond Breeze Vanilla Unsweetened almond milk. As it is lactose and soy free (lord, I hate soy milk), it's more analogous to coconut water than anything milky, but it does have an opaque (rather than merely watery, cloudy) and creamy quality.

Furthermore, it's completely sans sugar. It's actually kind of neutral/salty, which is totally palatable, if slightly strange. I added a pinch of granulated sugar (maybe a quarter of a teaspoon to a cup of Almond Breeze) and it went from fine to fab. The sugar undercut the saltiness but did not make it, in any way, sweet. If you like sweet drinks, a tsp. or 2 of maple syrup would be great, I suspect, and still less sugary-cloying than the majority of pre-sweetened rice, soy, dairy and almond beverages out there.

It's a very satisfying drink. You can feel it resetting electrolytes (that's how it feels to me) and it's actually got a bit of fat, protein and fibre. Furthermore, for those of us trying to keep carbs in check (oh, who are we kidding, I'm so carbing out this summer it's a scandal), it's got a mere 2, naturally occurring grams per cup.

Here's hoping some kind soul in the Blue Diamond marketing department reads this and sends me a case of the single serve containers. I could only find one remaining tetrapak of the large size at the Metro.

Updated:Craftsy

Y'all have heard of Craftsy, no doubt, as Gertie has recently debuted her first session. It's an interactive, online learning environment. You take courses. Kind of like correspondence school for the hipster crowd.

While I haven't signed up to make the Bombshell (the dress just isn't practical for me given my lifestyle and body type), I know that Gertie's course will be the bomb. I have already done her Lady Gray sew along and it changed the trajectory of my sewing experience. Point is, go sign up.

On a related note, today the talented Myrna kindly sent me a link, for another Craftsy course on customizing knits called Fit Your Knit. Um, hello, who doesn't want to learn how to dart her knit sweaters for extra waist definition (the subject of one of my comments yesterday by Anon)??

I didn't even watch the preview before signing up. (The course is on sale from $60.00 to $35.00.) I've since watched the preview and it looks great. You know, the way I learn is by watching and reading and thinking and then asking questions once I've thought on things for a while. This learning forum is SO made for immersive, interactive learners such as me.

Has anyone here taken either of these courses yet, or any other on Craftsy? What do you think of the site and the offerings? Let's chat...

Update: If you follow this link, you can get the course for 30 bucks...

Sweater Girl

Imagine my dismay that these photos, perfect on the camera and once downloaded, seem so grainy and weird on the blog. I have no idea what's going on...

Nonetheless, they're photos of me wearing - not one - but 2 of my handmade items! I think that's a record.

I should mention it's about 5000 degrees Celsius today, so wearing a wool sweater outside, albeit one with short sleeves and holes?!, was sheer torture. The things I do for my art...

The skirt is the one I sewed for my sister - the one that didn't work on her. My gain, in retrospect. It's a versatile wardrobe piece.

This shot captures the trademarked WendyB pose - legs crossed and hands on hips. I've been meaning to do it forever...

The glare was outrageous. Practically every shot without the sunglasses shows me squinting, or with my eyes closed!

The sweater is, of course, the Jan, a vintage splendor which will soon be available in A Stitch in Time: Volume 2.

My final thoughts on the garment are these:

• Tits ahoy! It's a beautiful design, but not one that's perfectly suited to my shape. It really emphasizes my short waist and blouses at just the area I try to nip in, to highlight my hourglass silhouette. The boatneck is also a challenge given the width of my shoulders combined with a large chest. I knew this going in and I was inspired to knit the sweater nonetheless.

• Um, it's a short sleeved sweater with holes. Not the most practical design. But you can't see a nude bra underneath, for what it's worth.

• It fits large, especially in the shoulders. I actually had to take in the boatneck by 2.5 inches on each side. At first, it just fell off my shoulders. Admittedly, mine are narrow.

• I have long arms and I usually avoid sleeves that end right at the bust height, or it simply emphasizes the width and depth of the chest zone. As such, I lengthened the sleeves by 1 inch on each side. In retrospect, adding another .5 - 1 inch would have been better, but this length is fine.

• Talk about a painful learning experience. I came close to giving up, which is not something I do. But I'm so grateful for all the help I received from you, my wonderful knitting friends, and for everyone's ongoing support. It made all the difference.

• I used 5 skeins of wool exactly - the amount the pattern instructed. Seriously, I didn't have more than one 6 inch string at the end. Very satisfying. Of course, I bought an extra skein and now I have no idea what to do with it.
  

• It's well-knit, if I do say so myself. I am unreservedly proud of how it looks, inside and out. Which means, 2 for 2, I have been pleased with my knitting results. On balance, I am much happier with my knitting than my sewing. I wonder if that's because I'm delusional, knitting is easier or if I actually have more natural aptitude for it than sewing.

So, whatcha think?? PS: Unless you love it, lie. :-)

Apparently...

...I need to stop believing that sewing up finished knitting pieces is any easier or faster than the rest of the sweater-making activity.

It's very finicky work. I've "invisibly" set in one sleeve (I'm starting on the sleeves, then sewing up the side seams) and it took 2 hours. And I don't think it's awesome work. Picking up bars on one side and stitches on the other is laborious. I don't care what the books say, unless you're an automaton - or the pattern works on row numbers (as opposed to length measurements) exclusively, you're not necessarily going to have the exact same number of rows on every piece.

Knitters: Can you corroborate that invisible seaming takes a lot of time and that you don't count stitch for stitch but just do your best to align everything? Of course, if you manage it with the aplomb set out in the books, be gentle when you advise me as much.

Block Party

In case you think I've been wasting my time on genealogy (peeps, it's my new obsession), I have finished the pieces of the Jan Sweater, which I immersion wet blocked this evening.

See?

These are the washed pieces of wool, pinned out to dry in shape. Note: Wet wool smells hideous.


I know these photos aren't much to look at but I sense that the pieces are going to be very soft and lovely when they dry.

While blocking the wet pieces, I really did notice differences in tension between each side (front and back) and each sleeve but I think, once blocked, the differences will not be visible in the finished product.

And I'm really glad, at least on paper, that I didn't make the medium. These pieces are larger than the dimensions predicted on the schematic. I know that wet wool really stretches out (and then seems to dry just fine) but the difference between the finished dimensions and the measurements of my finished wet pieces is significant in all directions. The reason I didn't pin more was because I didn't want to increase surface area unnecessarily.

Tomorrow I begin the sew up. Last time I assumed that would be the easy part - and it was a real trial. Maybe I've learned a bit from that? It will be less sewing of this garment than of the kimono wrap, because there aren't facings to deal with, the sleeves are shorter, and there are fewer pieces. Still, can't get too cocky... I'm not exactly an expert.

In Which I Debate What it Means to Live in Toronto (plus photos!)

Alas, I am officially convinced that the iPhone takes the lousiest photos ever. But I feel compelled to show you a little Toronto gem: Wychwood Park.

Its most famous inhabitant, Marshall McLuhan, the media theorist who defined our understanding of modern communications, lived at No. 3, a seriously happening hot bed of intellectualism. And fucking gorgeous. (That would be the neighbourhood, not Mr. McLuhan, whom I never met.)

I've written of Wychwood before but, finally, allow me to present some substandard pics.

Opulent little cottages (above) mingle with opulent mansions (below)! C'mon, how democratic.



Residents even have their own nature preserve swamp...


...complete with quicksand!


Toronto has never been known as "easy". By this, I don't mean loose - which it most definitely is not - but inclusive. Friendly people abound (well, they're out there), but many new Torontonians, which is to say residents of less than 15 years, often feel strangely looped out. Don't get me wrong, they know their ways around, they have equal access to all the cool things, but there's an element of club to TO. There are things you can't possibly understand until you've been assimilated. And you do not assimilate until you've earned it. Don't ask me why. It's just the way.

It's one of the things I love and loathe about this city. So utterly bland in so many ways, and yet so richly subtextual. You'll never see homogeneity convene more perfectly with diversity, each sect keeping its own secrets, giving a little, then a little more.

The first thing you ask when you want to get to know someone here is, "where do you live?". It says everything (unless the person in question is new to town).

There are more affluent spots than Wychwood, but none so discreet. Perhaps a mere 40 houses display themselves beneath a canopy of trees the likes of which you'll rarely see elsewhere. (Finally a group of frickin' trees this city can't cut down!)

When you say you live in Rosedale, it tells people you are wealthy, probably WASPy, likely indigenous, and on weekends you leave town. When you say you live in Wychwood Park - and btw, I've never known anyone, in 35 years, who's actually lived in the gated enclave, only in the surrounding area which is sometimes given the same name - it speaks to a kind of exclusivity the Rosedale inhabitant can only imagine.

For what it's worth, I'd settle for Rosedale.

So tell me: Do you live in Toronto? If yes, do you agree with my take or do you think I'm high on drugs? If you don't live here - do you feel the same way about your town? Or do you live in a bastion of newbie inclusiveness? Let's chat.